Tiger girls break tourney losing streak, finish 2nd

WILLARD, Mo. -- Fort Scott High School's girls broke a nine-game tournament losing streak when they beat host Willard, 61-40, here Saturday on the final day of the Four-State Classic.

Fort Scott's boys lost their fifth straight tournament game, 62-30, to the host team. The game was played out with a "turboclock" in the fourth quarter.

Tiger girls (1-1) finished second in what ended up being a three-team round-robin tournament after Broken Arrow -- the girls' and boys' defending champs -- withdrew from the tournament Wednesday due to the winter storm that hit Oklahoma especially hard. Springdale (Ark.) Har-Ber won the tournament by going 2-0 in the tournament. Willard finished 0-2.

Fort Scott boys (0-2) had a chance to force a three-way tie at 1-1 between the three remaining teams as long as they defeated Willard by at least 9 points. Although the Tigers held a 7-4 lead midway through the first period, two different 15-0 runs over the course of the first half ensured that Willard (3-0) would win its 10th championship in the 26 years the tournament's been held. Har-Ber was second and the Tigers third.

Fort Scott girls 61, Willard 40.

Sophomore Ashley Cook opened the game by hitting two 3-point field goals on her way to a career-best 28-point night. Her previous best was 19 points against Frontenac in the first game of the Raiders' new tournament last season, a 56-45 win.

Cook's triples were part of a 12-3 run to open the game. But Willard caught back up in the second quarter, going on a 9-0 run of its own to take the lead for the first time with less than two minutes remaining the second quarter. Mariah Stewart scored 6 straight points in that run, including the go-ahead free throws and a basket to cap the run that made it 26-23.

Katren Rienbolt hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to tie the score going into halftime and another one to begin the second half.

Willard's only points of the third quarter came on 3 free throws and those were early in the period. A pair of charity tosses by Ali Perry cut the deficit to 32-29. But Fort Scott went on a 17-0 run that went into the fourth quarter to make it 49-29.

Rienboldt added 11 points for Fort Scott, which made eight 3-point baskets. Cook hit 4, Rienbolt 3 and Ericah Shoemaker the other.

Stewart was the only Willard Tiger in double figures with 14 points. Perry, who scored 22 points in Willard's 62-58 double-overtime victory over Fort Scott last season, was held to 8 points in this one, 6 of those coming at the free-throw line.

Rienbolt and Cook were named to the All-Tournament Team and Fort Scott won the girls' sportsmanship award.

It was the Tigers first win in Willard since beating Arkansas Baptist, 57-52, in the first game of the 2010 tournament. It was also Fort Scott's first victory over Willard itself since beating the hosts 51-45 in the second game of the 2005 tournament, breaking a seven-game losing streak to the Missourians.

Willard boys 62, Fort Scott 30.

Jacob Bradbury's basket with about four minutes remaining the first quarter put Fort Scott ahead 7-4. But Willard closed out the quarter by scoring 12 straight points and added 3 more at the start of the second to make it 19-7.

Another 15-0 run rounded out the half, extending Willard's lead to 39-12 going into the locker room.

Tucker Horn's 3-point goal at the end of the quarter reduced the deficit to 53-21. But that wasn't enough to keep the mercy rule from kicking in. Missouri, like Kansas, has the clock run non-stop in the fourth quarter if the margin reaches 30 points or more at any point.

Chris Kendricks and Tanner Stafford tied for the scoring high for Willard with 16 points each. Kendricks, a 6' 4" senior who has reportedly committed to Missouri State University, was 9 of 9 at the free-throw line.

Chase Brown was Fort Scott's leading scorer with 7 points.

Jack Olin and Kaleb DeLaTorre were named to the All-Tournament team for the Tigers, who also received the Dave Regan Memorial Sportsmanship Award, named for the former Fort Scott teacher and coach.

The Tigers had not been held to so few points since February 21, 1986, when Parsons claimed a 70-24 victory, although there had been a few 31-point games in the meantime, including a 44-31 loss to Willard last season.

Both Tiger squads are idle until Friday, when Labette County comes to down for the home and Southeast Kansas League openers at the FSHS gymnasium. The varsity girls play at 6 p.m. with the boys to follow at approximately 7:30.

Girls

FORT SCOTT: Shoemaker 1 0-0 3, Denton 1 1-2 3, Allen 0 0-0 0, Rienbolt 4 0-1 11, Hasenplaugh 3 0-1 6, Cook 10 4-4 28, Lawrence 3 0-0 6, Lattimer 2 0-2 4, Brown 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 5-10 61.

WILLARD: Barrett 1 1-2 4, Williamson 0 2-2 2, Kurtz 2 2-3 6, Perry 1 6-6 8, Stewart 5 4-4 14, Fox 1 0-2 2, Mammau 2 0-0 4, Yates 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 15-19 40.

Fort Scott.... 19 7 19 16 -- 61

Willard....... 9 17 3 11 -- 40

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 8 (Cook 4, Rienbolt 3, Shoemaker), Willard 1 (Barnett).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 18, Willard 10. Fouled out: Allen. Technical fouls: None.

Boys

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 1 0-0 2, Horn 1 0-0 3, Brown 2 2-3 7, Pytlowany 1 0-0 2, Bradbury 2 0-0 5, Sinn 1 4-6 6, Knopp 0 1-2 1, Labbe 1 2-3 4, Reehl 0 0-1 0, Olin 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 9 9-15 30.

WILLARD: L.McGuinness 1 1-1 3, Baker 0 0-0 0, Barr 2 0-0 4, Griffin 3 0-0 6, Kendricks 3 9-9 16, Lasher 2 0-0 4, Stafford 6 0-1 16, Turner 2 0-0 4, C.McGuinness 1 0-0 2, McIntyre 1 2-2 5, Powell 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 22 12-13 62.

Fort Scott... 7 5 9 9 -- 30

Willard....... 16 23 14 9 -- 62

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 3 (Horn, Brown, Bradbury), Willard 6 (Stafford 4, Kendricks, McIntyre).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 13, Willard 20. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.